“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”Benjamin Franklin · Almanahul sărmanului Richard · 1758 · Almanahul sărmanului Richard, ediția 1758 (Prefața „Calea spre bogăție”)
Luck doesn't fall from the sky: it's what others see when your steady work meets an opening.
Franklin flips the idea of luck as fate: the person who seems lucky is really the one who works steadily and is ready when openings appear. The mechanism is simple: consistent effort means more attempts, more contacts, more skill, and therefore more chances of being in the right place at the right time. A carpenter who shows up daily and keeps his word earns referrals and orders that his idle neighbor would call luck.
Franklin adds a detail we often overlook: waiting for the perfect opportunity is itself a form of risk. The one who waits loses not only time, but practice too. Every day of work, however modest, keeps your tools sharp and your eye trained. Think of two neighbors who want to open a bakery. One waits for an ideal location and a favorable loan. The other bakes at home, sells at the market, botches recipes and fixes them. After a year, the second has customers, instincts and confidence. If a good chance shows up tomorrow, only he can seize it. In Franklin's view, luck does not fall into your lap: it sticks to whoever is already moving. The natural next question is: how do you know you are prepared, and not just tired of waiting?
Why it matters Useful whenever you are tempted to wait for the perfect break instead of building the conditions in which breaks can happen.